The Terrace Mailbag (Week 2)

Our inglorious bastard of a leader, Craig Fowler, goes through the football related questions you’ve sent us over the past week. 

Are Dundee United better without John Souttar and Ryan Gauld in the team? – Craig Cairns (@craigcairns001)

Given the evidence provided by Saturday’s defeat against St Mirren it’s hard to argue otherwise. As I stated on Monday’s show, I wouldn’t rush to blame Souttar for the first goal without a conclusive camera angle. Yes he is the closest player to Paul McGowan when the pint-sized midfielder heads it in, but the nearest defender could be someone desperately trying to cover for another’s mistake who just didn’t get there in time. It was a free-kick where St Mirren made it clear they were going for a contested high ball. It wouldn’t make much sense for Souttar to mark the smallest player in the opposing ranks.

However, even if we find him not proven on that count, there’s still been plenty of mistakes he’s been guilty of this season and it’s becoming increasingly clear he cannot yet be relied upon to play every single week. And that’s not a knock on his abilities whatsoever. He’s a 17-year centre back for chrissakes. He’s supposed to make mistakes! In fact, Souttar deserves unanimous praise for not making as few as he has given his inexperience. For now he’s the third best centre back at the club, behind Gavin Gunning and Curtis Good, and ahead of Sean Dillon. That’s a pretty good position to be in and one he should be proud of.

As for Ryan Gauld, I used to think they were definitely a better team for having him in the side but now I’m not so sure. Their return to form has largely come without him and Ryan Dow has certainly performed well in his absence. In fact, the latter came on for the former in United’s come-from-behind victory over St Mirren and really helped change the game in the hosts’ favour. He’s another who is a bit up and down in terms of form and I think the current use of them is the best way forward for United. Start the game with one, if it’s Gauld and it’s a real blood and thunder match then replace him with Dow. If the game is played at a calmer pace and is crying out for some incisiveness in the final third, then by all means extract the winger and put the natural No.10 on. It gives Jackie McNamara options and his team will be better for having the flexibility

We always thought that Souttar was going to come back to earth a little. We were just a little too premature in anointing Gauld the next king of Scottish football. That doesn’t mean he isn’t still going to be a terrific player and top class talent. He’s just got a lot more learning to do.

How would independence effect Scottish football, if at all? Any theories? – Scottish Football Quiz (@sfaquizzes)

Wow. Now, I must stress that politics is my Achilles heel. I have actually yet to vote in any general election because I know too little about it and don’t want my ignorance effecting matters of such importance. So I’m not sure that asking me would be the best way to go. But you have asked and therefore I’ll try my best to get an answer, which would be:

Not a whole lot.

If an independent Scotland wanted to rally around country’s most popular sport then we would have heard some subsidising rumours long before now with the devolution government. Politicians seem to take the view that giving public money to help football clubs is unfair, and quite rightly too. There are certainly benefits to having a solid football foundation for society in general – records have shown that Brazilian suicides rise and fall with the fortunes of the national team – but it’s unreasonable to ask someone who’s mood is not affected by football in the slightest to give money supporting it.

In terms of nationalistic feeling I doubt it would alter much either. A Scottish public voting in favour of radical change actually goes against the mentality of football in this country. It’s been a sick puppy for a long time and yet no-one is willing to make the big leap to do something about it. It seems many are happier to stay in the current situation and moan about it rather than taking the gamble. You could say that winning independence would then inspire the people, but it would suggest that such a feeling of radicalism already exists and yet still nothing is being done within the game. And I’m not just talking about those in charge of the clubs. If fans really demanded change then it could happen, instead of merely bitching about it on online forums and down the local pub.

One thing that certainly wouldn’t change is the location of the Old Firm. If they truly wanted to press for a move to England they could do so under the justification that the United Kingdom is one country and that the English Premier League already has a non-English British club (Swansea) playing within it. There’s no danger they or, more importantly, UEFA are going to allow a team from a completely separate nation to enter.

Should the Angus clubs – Arbroath, Brechin City, Forfar Athletic and Montrose – consolidate into a single entity? – Craig Telfer (@CraigGTelfer)

Ah yes, the old merger argument. In theory it sounds like a reasonable practice and I have been to many a party, always in the west coast, where the proposition of Hibs and Hearts merging into one club comes up. So why wouldn’t it work?

Well, for losing your entire history, identity and, for many fans, sense of purpose in life, what actually are you getting back? There is no number of neighbouring clubs in Scottish football who could combine their fan bases and still challenge the Old Firm duopoly. Going back to my own analogy, if you were to combine Hearts and Hibs into one team you would have average attendance of about 25,000, and that’s without losing anywhere from 25-50% of those supporters who don’t wish to support a brand new entity. What’s that going to do? Compete for more League Cups? Get a league title on average every ten years or so? Be the Scottish football version of Valencia? No thanks. I’d rather keep Macraes Battalion, Dave Mackay, the team of 98, 5-1 etc.

So, using such an argument, where would that get the Angus teams? Well they have an average attendance of about 600 people between them going to every game (per Soccerway.com). You combine them all together and get 2,400 people. Subtract a kind estimate of 20% for those who would refuse to go back and you get around 1,900. That number will obviously rise once they start climbing the tables – although that’s currently the average attendance at Ayr so it’s not a sure thing – so we can probably triple that figure if they make the top flight. Our final total is an average crowd of just under 6,000. Where does that ultimately get them? Partick Thistle? Motherwell if they hire a particularly good manager? Fans of Angus clubs, would you swap your entire history to enjoy a few seasons in the top six every couple of decades? I don’t even need anyone to send in an answer. We already know the response.

Craig Burley, the fountain of knowledge that he is, callously suggested that we just get rid of a number of lower league clubs because there isn’t any need for them. What Burley, and equally ignorant people fail to realise, is that East Stirlingshire ceasing to exist won’t automatically double the crowds at Falkirk. All it will do is create another 300 Old Firm sympathisers who don’t attend football matches.

Inverness Caledonian Thistle are everybody’s answer to the argument but they are not without their problems. Regardless of how the team is playing the number of people attending matches refuses to rise above a certain number. There is still a bad feeling in the city from the decision to merge Inverness Thistle and Caledonian 20 years ago and those older supporters aren’t coming back. Furthermore, we don’t know how successful either of the clubs would have been in the league structure because we don’t have any evidence either way. Who knows, maybe it would have been Caledonian fighting against Aberdeen for the league cup.

Leave clubs as they are. Yes there is too many of them in Scotland and years ago we should have taken the step to merge clubs when people wouldn’t have gotten too upset about it – and I’m talking 100 years ago, here. But it’s too late to turn back and wiping out four clubs for the sake of one just reduces numbers, it’s doesn’t increase the competitive balance.

How many men would it take to move Christian Nade? – Connor Gardiner (@connor_gardiner)

Well, according the song, at least 10. And you’d need something built to lift more weight than a forklift truck. A crane, maybe? Yeah, let’s go for that. A dozen men and a crane could lift Nade.

Who would make the all Scottish SPFL and all non-Scottish SPFL side and who would win? – Seth (@Scotsmo)

YAAS! I love these types of questions. Hypothetical teams and scenarios is the best part of football. I don’t even want these things to happen because they would be a mind numbing disappointment if played out in reality, like the Pro Bowl or NBA All-Star Game. The fun is in the inventing and the debating over who deserves the spot. Anyway here is both my squads, lined up in everyone’s favourite 21st century formation, the 4-2-3-1.

SPFL Scots:

GK Jamie MacDonald (Hearts)

RB Dave Mackay (St Johnstone)

CB Mark Reynolds (Aberdeen)

CB Steven Anderson (St Johnstone)

LB Andrew Robertson (Dundee United)

DM Charlie Mulgrew (Celtic)

DM Scott Brown (Celtic)

RW James Forrest (Celtic)

AM Peter Pawlett (Aberdeen)*

LW Leigh Griffiths (Celtic)

ST Kris Boyd (Kilmarnock)

ED: *It has since come to my attention that Pawlett was born in England and raised there by English parents for seven years. Swap him for GMS and do some maneuvering.

Bit harsh on Stevie May, Russell Anderson (especially after Sunday) and half the Motherwell line-up. If you think I’m talking out my backside (or is that typing out my backside?) then leave a note in the comments.

SPFL Others

GK Fraser Forster (Celtic)

RB Mikael Lustig (Celtic)

CB Virgil van Dijk (Celtic)

CB Efe Ambrose (Celtic)

LB Emilio Izaguirre (Celtic)

DM Richie Foran (Inverness)

DM Beram Kayal (Celtic)

RM Lionel Ainsworth (Motherwell)

AM Kris Commons (Celtic)

LM Niall McGinn (Aberdeen)*

ST Anthony Stokes (Celtic)

ED:*Niall McGinn can be substituted for Nadir Ciftci, who I somehow forgot.

Johnny Hayes could probably get in above Niall McGinn on current form and I can already feel the hate from Inverness fans wanting to have Billy Mckay over Stokes.

It’s close and I would definitely think the SPFL Scots would give them a game but the advantage of having the entire Celtic defence would give the non-Scots team an edge for victory.

I didn’t enjoy that as much as I thought. Most of the time was spent thinking of the Celtic player, struggling to come up with an alternative and then feeling dirty for going with my original selection.

If you’re question didn’t make the cut then don’t worry, we shall be releasing a second part of the mailbag on either Friday or Saturday. There were a lot of good questions this week.

If you have any question you’d like Craig Fowler and The Terrace guys to try and answer then please send them to show@terracepodcast.net or post them on twitter.